Apparatus for supplying polishing material to a series of polishing machines



. arch H. K. HITCHCOCK APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING POLISHING MATERIAL TO A SERIES OF POLISHING MmHINEs Filed NOV. 25, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 iNvENToR March 8,1927. 1,620,021

K. HITCHCYOCK H. APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING POLISHING MATERIAL TO A SERIES OF POLISHING MACHINES I V Filed Nov. 25, 1 925 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 49 I m h :55! M i i 61 pg];

INVENTOR March 8,1927.

ERIES 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 FLYING POLISHING MATERIAL TO A 5 OF POLISHING MACHINES Filed NOV. 25, 1925 H. K. HITCHCOCK APPARATUS FOR SUP i sq Patented Mar. 8, 1927.

UNITED STATE PATENT OFFICE.

HALBERT K. HITCHCOCK, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO PITTS BURGH PLATE GLASS COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING POLISHING MATERIAL TO A SERIES OF POLIS HTNG MACHINES,

Application 5116a November 25, 1925. Serial No. 71,374.

The invention relates to apparatus for supplying polishing material to a series of polishing machines. The apparatus is designed principally for use in polishing plates of glass by the use of a mixture of rouge and water, but is capable of use upon plates of material other than glass, and with polishing powders other than rouge. The invention has for its principal objects; (1) the provision of an improved arrange- 'ment for maintaining the rouge or other polishing powder always in suspension in the system including the conduits and tittings employed, so that clogging is prevented; (2) the provision of an arrangement whereby the same character of mixture is supplied to all the machines and maintained constantly uniform; and. (3) the provisionof an arrangement in which the polishing material is applied in-such manner as to give a maximum speed ofpolishing combined with an economical use of polishing. material. Certain embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:-

Figure 1 is a side elevation showing in diagrammatic form a simple embodiment ofthe invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail sectional view. Fig. 3 is an'enlarged fragmentary detail view. Fig. 4 is a detail. sectional view through a modification. And Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic side elevation view of a modification of the general arrangement shown in Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1, the reference numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. indicate a series of surfacing cars or tables mounted upon a track 5 and arranged in a continuous train so that they may be carried beneath the series of polishing runners 6, 7 8, 9, etc., such runners being'driven by a suitable means,

not shown. The mixture of polishing material, such as rouge and water, is supplied from a distributing tank 10 located at a. level above thesurfacing tables, .sueh tank being provided with a suitable agitator 11 driven from the motor 12 through the intermediary of suitable reducing gearing in the casing 13 and the sprocket drive 14 and bevel gears 15. The mixture is conducted from the distributing tank through a main conduit 16 from which lead the branch con- .duits 17 18, 19, 20, etc. which discharge at their lower ends to the various'polishing runners. The supply of rouge mixture for the. distributing tank 10 comes from the rouge house 21 in which are located a series of mixers 22, 23, and 24. Y The mixers are provided. with agitating devices similar to the agitatingdeviee 11 operated from suit- Mile driving mechanism, not shown, and the mixture is conducted from the tank 24 to the tank It) by means of theconduit 25 through which the mixture is forced by means of a suitable pump 26 driven from the motor 27. An excess of polishing mixture is supplied through the trough 16 and this excess discharged into a collecting tank 28 located at the right hand end of the trough. The mixture in the collecting tank accumulates until the level of the mixture r ses above a predetermined point at which time the motor 29 is automatically started and operates the pump 30 to carry the mixture through the pipe 31 back to the mixer 22. The unnsed mixture is thus returned to the rouge house and mixed in the tank 22 with a fresh supply of rouge and water and then circulated through the mixer 23- to the mixer 24 thus completing the cycle/ The apparatus for controlling the flow of rouge mixture from the trough 16 to the troughs 17, 18, 19 and 20 is shown in Fig. 2.

A valve seat 32 is provided in the bottom of the trough 16, and the opening through this seat is controlled from the valve 33 mounted upon the stem 33*. This valve is normally pressed down by means of the spring 34 whose tension may be adjusted by means of a bolt 35 threaded through the bracket 36. The stem isprovided with a transverse pin 37 lying beneath the lower end of the spring and supported by" the forked end of the operating lever 38 fulerumed on the bracket at 39. The right hand end of this lever which is made of soft iron lies in opposition to the pole piece of an electro-magnet 40, the arrangement being such that when the winding is energized, the valve 32 is opened and when the current through the winding is cut off, the valve is closed by the spring 34. The wires 41 and 42 for supplying the current to the winding lead to a suitable relay device in the casing 43 (Fig.

' and the runner reduces cthe drag of the run-.

ner, and when this is sufliciently reduced, the current to the magnet 40 is cut oil so that the valve 32 closes. The automatic mechanism whereby this is accomplished including the relay means in the casing 43 constitutes no part of the present invention, but is shown and claimed in my copending application, Serial Number 7 2,963, of even date herewith. It will be understood that the supply of rouge througheach of the other branch pipes 18, 19, 20, etc. is similarly controlled, or may be'so controlled, if desired,

' since an automatic control does not consti- 'tute a necessary partof the apparatus. As

illustrative of this point, Fi 4 shows a hand controlled valve 44 whic may be adjusted by means of the wheel 45 and which controls the flo'w of polishing mixture from i the main conduit 16 to the branch'conduit preferabl -alon the troughs loosenin an tater? rou g along the I tionof the conduit system a 17. This valve may be adjusted so that a continuous flow of smallvolume occurs from the trough 16 to the trough 17. I

The automatic return of the mixture collected in the tank 28 back to the tank 22 is controlled b means of the float 46 provi ed with a ho ow stem 47 guided for. free vertical movement through suitable bearings-in thetop of the tank. This stem is provided with-a slot 48 through which ex-' tends a pin 49 (Fig. 3) mounted in the end of a swltch lever 50. This lever Operates a limit switch in the casing 51 and the actuation of this switchcontrols the 0 eration of the motor 29. When the level 0 the liquid" in the tank rises above a predeterm ned pomt, the lower end of the slot 48 engages the pin 49 and swings the switch lever 50 so that the motor 29 is thrown into ,0 eration and continues to operate until t e float moves down so that the uper' end of the slot 48 a in en ages the pin '49 and swings the in t e reverse direction, thus stop-' switc pin .the operation of the motor.

e use of the troughs, which are open at their upper sides, involves an advantage over the use of pipes, in that-the danger of clogging the'pipes due' to the settling of the rouge is reduced and thellabor of cleaning the conduits is reduced to a minimum, as all that is necessary isforthe operator tolmove recipiwith a suitable ro dragged ttmn of the tron The opera- .has the adto observation, sothat 'vanta of being open conditions of. flow be corrected prompt-- -te'rfered Twith incident to ly and before the polishing operation is 'inirregularities which may arise. Other advantages incident to the system will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.-

Fig. 5 illustrates a modification involving a somewhat more involved application of the system disclosed in Fig. 1 in its simplest form. In this arrangement, two sets of polishing runners are shown. The set at the right and the apparatus for feeding such runners is the same as heretofore described in connection with Fig. 1 and the parts bear .the same reference numerals as in Fig. 1.

The collecting tank 10, however, is supplied from a pipe 52-instead of being supplied directly from the pump 26 through the pipe 25' as is the case in the Fig. 1" arrangement. The arrangement for supplying the left hand set of runners 53, 54, 55 and 56 with rouge is substantially the same as that employed for, sup lying the runners 6, 7, 8, and 9 as hereto ore described. The mixture. from the tank 24 in the rouge house is car-- ried to the collecting tank 57 by'means of the pipe 58 supplied by the pump 26. The mixture is stirred in this tank by means of the agitator 59 operated from the motor'60 in the same manner as described in connection with the tank 10, and flows from the bottom of the tank through the main conduit 61. From this tank the mixture is supplied to the olishing' machine through the branch con uits 62, 63, 64, 65, etc., the method of controlling the flow being the same as that 1 and 2. The excess rouge mixture which is not supplied to the branch conduits flows into a collecting tank 66 corresponding to the tank 28 of Fig. 1. From this tank, the mixture is pumpedfrom time to time through the pip'e 52 and into the tank 10, thls being accom lished by means of the electric motor; 67 which drives the pump 68. The tank is vided with a float 69 which controls a limit switch 71, the construction and operation. being the same as heretofore describedin connectionwith the float 46 and switch 51 of the Fig. 1 construction." It will be seen that the system in substance, constitutes a duplication of the arrangement of Fi 1 with the two sets of apparatus arrange in series, so that only the pair of pipes 31 and 58 leading to and from the house are required, instead of a multlphcity of such pipes such as would be called for in case the.

supply of mu e to each set ofplglliishin runhappens to be located at a considerable dis tance from the polishing apparatus.

- WhatIclaim is:'

1. The combination'with a plurality of machines arranged in series, and

means for carrying a series of plates of mate- 13erial to be polished therebenc-xth, of a distating the contents of such tank, a main conduit extending along the series of machines, a branch conduit extending from said main conduit to each machine, a collecting tank at the end of said' main conduit for receiving the excess of mixture floviingthrough said main conduit and not diverted through the branch conduits, and means for returning the mixture from the collecting tank to the distributing tank.

2. The combination with a plurality of polishing machines arranged in series, and means tor carrying aseries of plates of material to be polished therebeneath, of a distributing tank for-the mixture of liquid and polishing material to be used, means for agitating the contents of such tank, a main conduit extending along the series of machines, a branch conduit extending from said main conduit to each machine, a collecting tank at the end of said main conduit for receiving the excess of mixture flowing through said main conduit and not diverted through the-branch conduits, and means for returning the mixture from the collecting tank to the distributing tank, the said 001- lecting tank beinglocated at a level below that of the distributing tank so that a gravity flow is provided between the two tanks through said main conduit.

3. The combination with a plurality of polishing machines arranged in series, and means for carrying a series of plates of material to be polished therebeneath, of a distributingtank for the mixture of liquid and polishing material to be used, means for agitating the contents of such tank, a main conduit extending alongthe series of machines, a branch conduit extending from returning the mixture 'from the collecting tank to the distributing tank, the said collecting tank being located at a level below that of the distributing tank so that a gravity flow is provided between the two tanks through said main conduit, and such main conduit and branchconduits being in the form of troughs having their upper sides open. I

4. The combination with anplurality of polishing machines arranged series, and means for carrying a series of plates of material to be polished therebeneath, of a distributing tank for the mixture of liquid and polishing material to be used, means for agitating the contents, a main conduit extending along the series of machines, a branch conduit extending from the main conduit to each machine, a collecting tank at the end of the main conduit for receivin the excess of the mixture flowing throng said main conduit and not diverted through the branch conduits, a pump and conduit means for returning the mixture in the collecting tank to the distributing tank, and

automatic means for starting the operation of the pump when the level of the mixture in the collecting tank rises above a predetermined oint.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 23rd day of November, 1925. f

HALBEBT K. HITCHCOCK; 

